Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, relate to a semiconductor integrated circuit and an operating method thereof.
As a semiconductor fabricating technique is developed, a semiconductor integrated circuit with various operating states may be fabricated. The operating states of the semiconductor integrated circuit may include operating states classified according to an operating speed of the semiconductor integrated circuit such as a low-performance state, an intermediate-performance state, and a high-performance state.
When the semiconductor integrated circuit is fabricated, the lifetime of the semiconductor integrated circuit may be considered. The lifetime of the semiconductor integrated circuit may be decided in view of operating states of the semiconductor integrated circuit such as the low-performance state, the intermediate-performance state, and the high-performance state. The high-performance state may enable the performance of the semiconductor integrated circuit to be improved. On the other hand, the semiconductor integrated circuit may suffer the largest stress at the high-performance state, so that the lifetime of the semiconductor integrated circuit is shortened. The low-performance state may lower the performance of the semiconductor integrated circuit. On the other hand, the semiconductor integrated circuit may suffer the smallest stress at the low-performance state, so that the lifetime of the semiconductor integrated circuit is extended. The lifetime of the semiconductor integrated circuit may be decided according to a result obtained by predicting a high-performance residency, an intermediate-performance residency, and a low-performance residency when the semiconductor integrated circuit is used by a user. A semiconductor integrated circuit capable of operating normally during the decided lifetime may be fabricated according to the decided lifetime.
However, the operating states of the semiconductor integrated circuit may not be used as forecasted. The operating states of the semiconductor integrated circuit not used as forecasted may shorten the lifetime of the semiconductor integrated circuit. This may become a factor that lowers the reliability of the semiconductor integrated circuit.